Night Life

237 W. 42nd St. (212-997-4144)—Sept. 27: As the front man for Free, Bad Company, the Firm, and, most recently, a new incarnation of Queen, Paul Rodgers is one of the more ubiquitous singers in rock. He’s also an unshakable radio mainstay—does a day (or even an hour) go by in this country without an airing of Free’s signature anthem, “All Right Now”?

BLENDER THEATRE AT GRAMERCY

127 E. 23rd St. (212-307-7171)—Sept. 26: The Portuguese vocalist Sara Tavares. Sept. 27-28: José González, who was born in Sweden to Argentinean parents, plays the acoustic guitar with commanding grace and sings, in English, sultry songs that are sad and uplifting at the same time.

FILLMORE NEW YORK AT IRVING PLAZA

17 Irving Pl., at 15th St. (212-777-6800)—Sept. 29-30: The Louisiana native Lucinda Williams has long incorporated a wide range of musical styles into her repertoire—from folk to blues to country to rock. She’s in town performing a career retrospective. Here she’s playing songs from her albums “World Without Tears” (2003) and “Essence” (2001), and at Town Hall she’s tackling three others from her back catalogue. Sept. 26: The thrash-metal titans Megadeth.

GRAND BALLROOM

Manhattan Center, 311 W. 34th St. (212-307-7171)—Sept. 27: Devendra Banhart, a Texas native who grew up in Venezuela and California, has become one of the leaders of what is known as the freak-folk movement. With his new album, “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon,” he stands poised to take his rightful place as an iconic pop-music maestro, if an eccentric one. The album, which was recorded at his home studio (found with the help of a tarot-card reader) in the artists’ haven of Topanga, California, glows and sparkles like the L.A. cityscape at night. It is a broad collection of folk-rock songs with elements of samba, doo-wop, and, of course, psychedelia. Banhart himself, a long-haired and bearded presence, comes off as a cross between Caetano Veloso and Jim Morrison.

JOE’S PUB

425 Lafayette St. (212-539-8777)—Sept. 27: The Plastic People of the Universe make a somewhat rare New York City appearance. The Czech underground rock band has a storied history: the group’s 1976 arrest and prosecution helped motivate the playwright Vaclav Havel and other artists and intellectuals to form Charter 77, the human-rights-manifesto-cum-movement that laid the groundwork for the Velvet Revolution, more than a decade later. (The group figures prominently in Tom Stoppard’s play “Rock ’n’ Roll,” which comes to New York next month.)

JOE’S PUB IN THE PARK

Delacorte Theatre, Central Park near W. 81st St. (212-967-7555)—Sept. 26: The indie-pop band Beirut, whose 2006 album of unabashedly charming Gypsy rock, “Gulag Orkestar,” broke out of the blogosphere to achieve mainstream acclaim, is led by the young multi-instrumentalist and crooner Zack Condon. His continued romance with Old World styles and the work of Jacques Brel comes through on the band’s new release, “The Flying Club Cup.” With the hip-hop-inflected Mediterranean dancehall music of Balkan Beat Box, which is led by Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan.

MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG

66 N. 6th St., Brooklyn (718-486-5400)—Sept. 26: The Sonic Youth front man, Thurston Moore, breaks out songs from his new solo record, “Trees Outside the Academy.” The album’s mostly lyric-driven rock songs are played by, among others, Sonic Youth’s drummer, Steve Shelley, and the violinist Samara Lubelski. It also features the Dinosaur Jr. guitarist J Mascis, the vocalist Christina Carter, and recordings of the thirteen-year-old Moore making sounds with household objects in his Bethel, Connecticut, bedroom. Sept. 27: Medeski Martin & Wood, the jazz-funk trio and jam-band phenomenon, stretches its legs. The group’s members are coming off touring with the guitarist John Scofield, with whom they recorded last year’s album “Out Louder.” Sept. 29: José González (see Blender Theatre at Gramercy).

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

1 Bowling Green—Sept. 29: Good magazine, a glossy publication with a refreshingly nonpartisan approach to doing what its name implies, celebrates its first anniversary with a party featuring d.j.s sure to draw a crowd from the young demographic that advertisers covet—Jeremy Greenspan, from Junior Boys, A.D.J., which is three-quarters of the Brazilian Girls, and others. (For reservations, which are required, visit www.goodmagazine.com.)

REBAR

147 Front St., Brooklyn (718-797-2322)—Sept. 28: The feisty Brooklyn-based Hungry March Band, once dubbed “Best Anarchist Parade Band” by a downtown weekly, lights into songs from its new CD, “Portable Soundtracks for Temporary Utopias.” (This show caps a week of performances around the city. For information on those nightly shows, the details of which will be made public the night before each date, visit www.hungrymarchband.com.)

TOWN HALL

123 W. 43rd St. (212-840-2824)—Sept. 26: Steve Earle was angering the country-music community with his leftist politics long before the Dixie Chicks did. The self-avowed rocking rebel will be joined by another alt-country artist, Allison Moorer, Earle’s sixth wife (and seventh marriage; he tied the knot twice with one woman). Sept. 30: Iron & Wine is Sam Beam, a fine acoustic guitarist with a fiercely bushy beard. He delivers his revivalist songs with a breathy, hushed voice. Oct. 2-4: Lucinda Williams (see the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza) plays music from her albums “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” (1998), “Sweet Old World” (1990), and her self-titled release (1988).

WARSAW

261 Driggs Ave., Brooklyn (212-307-7171)—Sept. 29: The wonderfully nuanced, narcotic pop of the Sea and Cake, which is touring in support of its new release, “Everybody.”

WORLD MUSIC INSTITUTE

Sept. 28: Eleggua, an all-female collection of drummers from Venezuela. (Symphony Space, Broadway at 95th St. For more information, call 212-545-7536.)

JAZZ AND STANDARDS

ALGONQUIN HOTEL

59 W. 44th St. (212-840-6800)—Through Oct. 13: The Broadway veteran KT Sullivan, in a program of hits from the heyday of the Great White Way.

BIRDLAND

315 W. 44th St. (212-581-3080)—Sept. 26-29: The jazz master Pat Martino personifies an era when guitar stylists found inspiration in the soulful elegance of Wes Montgomery as well as the modal excursions of John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Time may have taken the edge off his exploratory impulses, but Martino remains a crafty classicist.

Broadway at 60th St. (212-258-9595)—Sept. 25-30: Last month, Renee Rosnes married Bill Charlap at this very club, and she returns for the Diet Coke Women in Jazz Festival, borrowing her husband’s bassist, Peter Washington. She may now be part of a jazz-world royal couple, but she remains her own woman stylistically, easily traversing modal and modern jazz forms that Charlap displays little interest in exploring. The saxophonist Chris Potter and the drummer Lewis Nash round out her exceptional quartet. Oct. 1: The festival comes to a close with Gretchen Parlato, the winner of the 2004 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition and the recipient of effusive praise from both Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter.

IRIDIUM

1650 Broadway, at 51st St. (212-582-2121)—In the late forties, the legendary, star-crossed Bud Powell translated the language of bebop to the piano, defining the genre for keyboardists ever since. Paying tribute to his wizardry and enduring influence are two long-established stylists: Cedar Walton (here on Sept. 27) and Steve Kuhn (Sept. 28), and two younger players, Vijay Iyer (Sept. 29) and Rachel Z (Sept. 30). Each pianist will front a trio. Mondays belong to the electric-guitar innovator Les Paul. The Mingus Big Band takes over on Tuesdays.

JAZZ STANDARD

116 E. 27th St. (212-576-2232)—Sept. 25-26: There are flashier young pianists out there, but few have the poise and historical scope of Frank Kimbrough, a mainstay of Maria Schneider’s big band. He’s joined by the bassist Jay Anderson and the masterful drummer Paul Motian. Sept. 27-30: E.S.T. (the Esbjörn Svensson Trio) is Scandinavia’s answer to our Bad Plus Trio: a group of rock-inclusive free spirits eager to venture beyond the boundaries of mainstream jazz.

VILLAGE VANGUARD

178 Seventh Ave. S., at 11th St. (212-255-4037)—Sept. 25-30: Slide Hampton, a musician’s musician who has been turning heads since the late fifties with his trombone playing and equally memorable arranging and composing, takes the stage as a leader of the Trombone All-Stars, featuring Steve Davis,Jonathan Voltzok, and Max Seigel. The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra holds sway on Mondays.